The great news is that the doctor did not officially diagnose Katie with MS. I know that sounds a bit ambiguous, but stay with me and I’ll explain why that is an answer to our prayers and the best news we could hope for.
What we know…
Katie has a single lesion on her spine. This lesion is typical of the lesions that are associated with “full blown” MS. But here’s the kicker. Katie only has one lesion. This means we wait and that’s great news…and here’s why.
The fact that Katie has only one lesion on her spine and we caught it at this stage means one of two things:
1) We were extremely lucky and just happened to catch “it” before another lesion appeared and another subsequent episode. This case, as described by the doctor, is extremely rare.
or
2) Katie has Transverse Myelitis (TM). Big word, but mainly the lesion caused this specific episode and there is nothing to indicate that another episode or lesion would occur.
I asked the doctor if he had ever seen a case where the doctors happened to find a single lesion, which after time led to more lesions and episodes indicative of MS. He said almost never.
Basically, once a lesion occurs, a person will suffer from a variety of symptoms. Usually these symptoms “go away” after a time and are mis-diagnosed as some other aliment. After several “episodes” and depending on the severity of the symptoms, a person will usually end up with an MRI that shows several lesions, each lesion responsible for an episode.
THIS IS NOT THE CASE WITH KATIE. ONLY ONE LESION.
The fact that Katie is very healthy and has had other “episodes” of numbness but no other lesions exist, leads the doctor to believe that this is TM (or some mild form of TM) and not MS…at this point. TM can be caused by a number of things from a virus or spinal chord injury, or any number of unknown causes.
So the good news/bad news is…
Good News. There’s nothing Katie can to to cause another episode.
Bad News. There’s nothing Katie can do to prevent another episode.
So for now life should go on as “normal” and we wait. If Katie has another episode in a week, a month, a year, or ten years from know it could be MS or it could be whatever caused this first episode, but for now we wait and continue to pray.
In summary:
Katie has a lesion on her spine. It could be MS but most likely it’s a form of TM. We don’t know that for sure or if she’ll have another episode or if this particular lesion will continue to bother her legs. But until that happens; we wait and see.
That’s wonderful news if you ask me. The alternative could have been much more dire.
Final Comments…
The doctor enters the room after reviewing the MRI of Katie’s brain and spine. This is the conversation. I did not make this up.
DR: Well, Katie your scans look great. There is nothing I could find that is alarming. Your chord is very healthy, other than the one lesion, and your brain looks excellent. In fact, it looks brand new, like it has neven been used.
The Thoughtful Husband to his Beautiful Wife: See. I knew it.
Many friends have commented on our “attitudes” through this past week and I just want to take the opportunity to explain our attitudes. It has nothing to do with our attitudes. It has to do with our God. We believe very strongly in a sovereign God who rules the universe.
Romans 8:26-28 says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because [6] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [7] for those who are called according to his purpose.
Katie may have MS, and if so then God will use that horrible disease for His good, and while we may not be able to explain just exactly how and why that is good, or any other tragedy for that matter, but we are called to have faith…faith in a God that loves us and will use us for His glory.
So we thank you for you thoughts and prayers, but please know our attitudes are not from being up beat or happy. The attitudes you see are because we know that God will work His good out in our lives and we are thankful for that.